Read more on the Wesmount Community Association website.
New listings remained steady at eighty-five on a week-over-week basis but took a good jump when compared against the same period in 2009 when just sixty-three sellers offered their Saskatoon homes for sale.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
The inventory of active residential MLS listings continued to slide for a seventh consecutive week as the total number of listings slipped fifteen to 1210 but remained stubbornly higher than last year at this time when just 943 properties were for sale. As of today, there are 734 single-family homes and 414 condominiums showing an active status on the Saskatoon MLS system. Last week at this time those numbers sat at 739 and 421 respectively. Compare those stats to 552 and 321 at the same point in 2009. In the next two days, sixty-one MLS listings are due to expire. I expect a small handful of those will be extended before the deadline hits but total inventory numbers should fall well below 1200 before business at the real estate board resumes on Monday morning.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
Cancelled and withdrawn listings fell off again to just thirty-three listings. Eighteen of those re-entered the system disguised as a “new listing,” most at a lower price. An additional forty-eight price adjustments were processed on houses and condos this week.
While this week’s sales included a broad range of prices and a median sale price well towards the lower end of the range in recent months ($277,250), a couple of high-end sales worth more than $1.6 million dollars combined pushed the average selling price of a Saskatoon home higher again to $305,451. The six-week average price managed to move in a downward direction for the fifth week in a row to settle lower by just six hundred dollars compared to last week, and twenty-five thousand dollars higher than it was at the close of the same week last year. The four-week median price also fell lower losing nine thousand dollars on the week to settle at $281,000, recording a gain of seventeen thousand dollars on the same week in 2009.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
While there was four overbid sales reported this week, three of them were new homes that likely included some additional improvements to bring the price up by an average of $14,350. Three sellers managed a deal at their full asking price while forty-nine of fifty-six home buyers negotiated a below list price with an average discount of $10,501 or 3.4%.
Click the image for a larger version of the chart. 
Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings from all real estate brands with the most detail and information available anywhere. Check it out here.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
Previously approved by CREA’s board of directors, subject to ratification of the national real estate association’s member real estate boards, the consent agreement makes it crystal clear that CREA and its member boards have no business dictating service levels for MLS® listings. Brokerages may opt to offer service levels that range from a “mere posting” where the brokerage’s responsibility would be limited to data verification and entry in the MLS® system, to a full slate of additional services which include showing the property, marketing and negotiation of purchase contracts.
CREA has always maintained that their MLS® rules do not prohibit brokers from negotiating limited service agreements with property sellers. One MLS® rule that did exist when the investigation began prohibited “mere postings.” The association has always maintained that the intention of this rule was only to keep members responsible for the accuracy of MLS® data in order to maintain the integrity of the MLS®, and that all other services were negotiable. In their initial response to the Bureau’s allegationthat CREA’s rules were developed to prevent limited service models, CREA cited several examples of brokerages that were offering limited services, including MLS® listings for under $200.
Precise details of the agreement have been kept under wraps on the understanding that litigation before a Competition Tribunal scheduled for April of 2011would proceed if the CREA membership voted against the ratification of the agreement. A full copy of the agreement which is immediately effective, and in effect for ten years, will be available on the Competition Bureau website as soon as it is registered with the Tribunal.
Memorandums released by CREA and member boards after the agreement was struck have not provided a great detail of detail, except for a few points of clarification in answer to erroneous news reports. In those memos, CREA has made the following points:
In a memo to the membership of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® emailed shortly after the vote, executive officer Harry Janzen had this to say about the impact of this agreement on the Saskatoon real estate industry and consumers who utilize services offered by members.
The Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® has always been a progressive association in its delivery of services to its members and in turn, the consumer. In the mid 1980s Saskatoon saw the first of what was then viewed as an alternative business model.
Since that time, several brokers have chosen to offer services that assist sellers who prefer less than full service in the marketing of their property. The REALTOR® community in Saskatoon and area will continue to offer marketing services that philosophically align with their belief on how to best serve today’s consumer.
Consumers need to be aware that regardless of the service level they choose to receive from a REALTOR®, the REALTOR® must still comply with provincial law and the industry’s regulatory body the Saskatchewan Real Estate Commission. Two examples of Saskatchewan requirements are: An agency relationship must exist between the REALTOR® and the Seller based on the services chosen. Another example is REALTORS® are still responsible to verify the accuracy of MLS® data to ensure association MLS® system data integrity.
Given Saskatoon’s experience and history with alternative business models, approval of the consent agreement simply means business as usual for both REALTORS® and consumers.
Only time will tell the true impact of this agreement, but one thing is for sure; this REALTOR® is happy to see the end of this ugly battle, regardless of where it goes. I believe in free markets and competition. Availability of the broadest possible range of services is good for consumers and for real estate practitioners alike.
CREA President Georges Pahud comments on the agreement here. Final agreement paves way for more competition in Canada's real estate market: Competition Bureau Read also: Canada’s Competition Bureau concludes CREA’s rules are anti-competitive Read also: MLS rules and CREA headed for Competition Tribunal
Update: A copy of the consent agreement between CREA and the Bureau is here.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS® listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
New listingsmoved in the same direction with eighty-five Saskatoon homes offered up for sale, ahead of the previous week by eight, and up on the same period in 2009 by thirteen.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
The total inventory of residential listing offered for sale on the Saskatoon multiple listing service continued to trend lower for the fifth consecutive week dropping twenty-one units to close the week at 1225, still well up from 996 at the close of the same week last year. This morning’s inventory totals include 739 single-family homes and 421 condominiums, up from 583 and 348 respectively when compared to active listing inventories at this point in 2009. It does seem nearly certain that we’ve finally hit the point where inventory is likely to trend lower through the balance of the year as it pretty much always does, sooner or later. At this point, sales and listings appear to be experiencing a seasonal weakening at a nearly equal pace. Based on October’s sales to date, total months of available inventory remains steady at 4.3, just where it was at the end of September.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
Cancelled and withdrawn listings moved sharply higher this week from twenty-nine to forty-six homes. Twenty-four of those found their way back to the system as a new listing, most at a lower price. An additional fifty-four listings showed a price adjustment this week.
While more than ten percent of last week’s sales came in with a price above the $500K mark, this week we see just one sale above that number. Fairly strong activity in less expensive area 4 also helped to push the weekly median sale price lower by twenty-one thousand dollars to $278,400. Meanwhile, the average selling price of a Saskatoon home saw a serious downward adjustment falling by forty-four thousand dollars from last week to $277,278. The six-week average sale price slid about sixty-five hundred on a week-over-week basis to $302,196 to maintain a gain of roughly $22K on the same week last year. The four-week median bucked the weekly trend and gained four thousand dollars on the previous week to close at $290,000 claiming a gain of $20,000 over the same week in 2009.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
Overbids pretty much slipped off the charts again. There was one sale that was reported with a sale price that exceeded list but it was a condo, under construction, so it most likely had some spec adjustments that pushed the price up the extra $10,750. Three sellers managed a deal at their full asking price. Sixty-five of sixty-nine of the Saskatoon homes that sold this week went for less than the asking price by an average of $10,797 or about 3.7 percent below list.
Click the image for a larger version of the chart. 
Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings from all real estate brands with the most detail and information available anywhere. Check it out here.
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I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
"Along with this slowdown in activity, we have seen a considerable increase in inventory compared to last year," said Norm Fisher, Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate. "Buyers are not feeling a lot of pressure to act quickly right now, so demand is dropping off."
Detached bungalows led the way with year-over-year price gains of 5.5 per cent, selling for an average of $328,750 in the third quarter. Standard condominiums sold for an average of $230,000, up 4.5 per cent from last year, while prices for standard two-storey homes were up 2.7 per cent year-over-year, selling for a third-quarter average of $350,000.
"It's not clear why detached bungalows experienced the strongest price gains, however lower priced properties are always most in demand," explains Fisher. "We're beginning to see prices level off after peaking at the beginning of 2010."
Detached bungalows and standard condominiums showed the greatest sales volume decreases for the third quarter, with single family homes under $400,000 down 30 per cent and condos under $250,000 down 25 per cent from last year. Multiple offers are rare, except when properties are priced below market value. Houses typically sold below asking price.
"With this softening of the market, sellers need to price their homes accurately," says Fisher. "However, Saskatoon's population is growing steadily as our employment rates are among the best in the country - so buyers are definitely out there."
Nationally, Canada's residential real estate market saw year-over-year growth in the third quarter as fears of a double dip recession or a housing bubble faded. House price appreciation slowed to a more modest five per cent in the quarter, which is historically typical of balanced real estate markets.
"Most Canadian housing markets cooled in the third quarter. In fact, the year is unfolding much as we predicted, with the unusually active first half of 2010 giving way to slower markets in the later part of the year. Helped by very low rates in a competitive mortgage financing market, the third quarter was slightly stronger than anticipated, on new demand fuelled by improved affordability in many regions," said Phil Soper, president and chief executive, Royal LePage Real Estate Services. Looking ahead, it is very unlikely that the period from now to year-end can keep pace with the activity levels posted in the overheated market of the final quarter of 2009."
In the third quarter, the average price of a detached bungalow in Canada was up 4.6 percent to $324,531, compared to a year ago. Over the same period, standard two-storey homes rose 4.4 percent to $360,329 while standard condominiums rose 3.9 percent to $226,481.
"House price growth now sits just below the long term annual average of approximately five per cent, but once this is adjusted for inflation, which is very low and expected to continue to be that way for some time, appreciation is right on track. Canadian homeowners will be pleased," said Soper.
While two elementary schools were initially included in the neighbourhood concept plan, both the public and the Catholic schools boards shifted their focus from Arbor Creek to Willowgrove when considering new schools in 2007. Funding for a joint project housing a public and a Catholic school was approved for Willowgrovethis year.
Most children living in the Arbor Creek area have settled into schools in neighbouring Erindale.
More from the Star Phoenix here.
About time, eh?
More from the Star Phoenix here.
I got a bit of a kick out of this story about a recent study of open houses which found that almost half of the people who attended them weren’t even in the market to buy a home. Fifty-seven percent admitted to getting some kicks out of the opportunity to “check out the seller’s personal property” from opening closets to reading notes on the fridge. I'm guessing it's more than fifty-seven percent.
I suppose having your fridge notes read or your medicine cabinet raided by total strangers and neighbours is fairly harmless, at least compared to some of the other possibilities. It seems that there’s no end to the dangers and delights that can occur between 2 and 4 on a Sunday afternoon.
Just a few years ago, a very strange idea crept into the mind of one Saskatoon dude. Over the course of couple of weekends he made a number of open house appearances, all of which were hosted by women. After entering and greeting his host, he would take the first opportunity to sneak away to a private spot and undress to his underwear, underwear which was selected to accentuate his feminine side. Then, to the horror of the attendant REALTOR®, he would parade through the living room to make himself seen. Perhaps I have a keenly sharp sense as to what the average woman may find sexy, or perhaps it was just a lucky guess, but it came as no surprise to me that this was not a real turn on for the women who happened to be there. I was surprised to learn, however, that this is not actually an illegal activity. Fortunately, police were able to convince the man that no good could come of such exhibitions and after one firm talking to, he stopped.
Being cornered or assaulted by a kook is probably the worst case scenario for an agent at an open house but theft of the seller’s personal property is always a concern, and rightly so. Over the course of my career I’ve heard several stories of items gone missing, but frankly, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often than it does. It seems that open houses can be a pretty easy and lucrative target. Here’s a news storyabout an Oshawa couple in their 50’s who were recently charged with stealing over $500,000 worth of property from a number of open houses. It’s quite a way to be making a living after 50. Sad but true.
Open houses can be more than fun and surprises for agents and home sellers. It seems that buyers find their fair share of delights as well. In this interesting blog post, New York Times readers share their fondest open house memories, from tales of intimate boudoir photos proudly displayed, to people fast asleep in bed. One of the stories reminded me of an open house I hosted early in my career, before I had a good sense of what staging a home really means. The seller was a hunter, and not just a regular hunter. He had visited Africa on numerous occasions and quite a collection of trophies had accumulated on the walls of “his room” as it was affectionately labeled by her. There are few things uglier that a warthog. Gazelle’s, water buffalo and zebras are all quite magnificent, but when you chop their heads off and attach them to the walls of a sixteen by twelve foot room they have a tendency to dominate. They can also send people fleeing. One woman literally ran down the stairs and out the front door without so much as a goodbye.
Perhaps the most shocking and sad open house story I’ve ever heard was this one. It seems that the home owner, distraught and grieving the recent death of his beloved spouse, hanged himself in the closet of the master bedroom. His lifeless body was discovered by a “prospective buyer” who just had to open the closet at an open house. Some fifty-seven perent of you might like to keep this story in mind the next time you have the urge to sneak a quick peek inside a closet at an open house.
Do you have any fun or scary open house stories? Please share it with us by leaving a comment.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS® listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
New listingsfell by a slightly higher percentage compared to last week as agents brought just seventy-seven listings to the Saskatoon multiple listing service, a decline of nineteen compared to last week, but an increase of thirteen when compared against the same time period last year.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
Following an unusual display of stubbornness that lasted nearly three months the total inventory of residential listings on the Saskatoon MLS continued to trend lower for a fourth consecutive week. Total active listings slid to 1246, down twenty units from the close of the previous week but still remains twenty-four percent higher than it was at this time last year when just 1006 Saskatoon homes were for sale. Today’s inventory includes 750 single-family homes and 429 condominiums, with the former dropping twenty and the latter gaining two on a week-over-week basis. Last year at this time there were 584 single-family homes and 353 condominiums showing an active status on the Saskatoon MLS.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
There were just twenty-nine cancelled and withdrawn listing processed on the system this week and as usual, about half of those managed to find their way back to the MLS as a new listing, most with a new lower price. An additional fifty-five price adjustments worked their way through the system over the course of the week.
More than ten percent of this week’s sales boasted a price exceeding five hundred thousand dollars, so as you might expect, the average selling price of a Saskatoon home took a strong bounce reaching $321,676 and coming close to the previous peaks for the year that we saw in August. The six-week average selling price remained steady compared to last week closing at $308,607 to gain just over twenty-three thousand dollars when compared against the same week last year. The four-week median sale price slid three thousand dollars from last week to finish at $286,000 and claimed a gain over the same week in 2009 by roughly thirteen thousand dollars.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
Three Saskatoon home sellers found a buyer prepared to pay more than list price by an average of $15,734 this week, a number that was seriously skewed by one small area 4 house listed at $84,900 that sold forty thousand dollars above that. Three more sellers closed a deal at their asking price while forty-four of fifty sales closed below list by an average of $8,502 or about 2.7% of list, the smallest discount we’ve seen in the past few months.
Click the image for a larger version of the chart. 
Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings from all real estate brands with the most detail and information available anywhere. Check it out here.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
Just last week, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released their preliminary housing starts data for Septemberof 2010 which shows housing starts in Saskatoon increasing 45% for the month of September compared to the same month last year. Builders started construction on 191 units in the Saskatoon region last month. The year-to-date numbers are even more impressive, jumping to 1,755 from 780 at the same point in 2009 when housing starts were had fallen below long term averages.
This week, Statistics Canada released their New House Price Indexthat tracks price trends through August of this year. While prices remained steady in August, compared to July, they increased 3.8% from August of last year.
CMHC’s housing starts report is here. Statistics Canada Housing Price Index is here.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
The actual release and some stats graphs can be found here.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
After four consecutive months of slow declines, Saskatoon house sale numbers inched up slightly on a month over month basis, finishing just two sales ahead of August at 206. Year-over-year declines continued as sales fell by thirty units, or fourteen percent when compared against the same month last year. Once again, sales of houses below $350,000 took a real beating falling from 178 in September of last year to 130 a year later. At the same time, sales of houses in the $351,000 and higher range increased from 58 units a year ago to 75 sales this September.
The inventory of available homes in the single-family category declined marginally over the past month falling from 773 at the close of August to finish September at 766. Combined with more stable unit sales, the small decline had the effect of lowering “months of inventory” which fell to 3.7, down by just 0.1 months. Compared to September of 2009, total months of inventory grew substantially from a low 2.5 month supply.
For the second month in a row the shifting in the price ranges of houses that sold wreaked havoc on the average selling price of a Saskatoon house, pushing it to its highest point ever, $339,692 to eclipse its previous record set in June of 2008by just $114. That number is up roughly twelve percent from September 2009. Naturally, the median price remained high at $323,000 gaining $1,000 on the month and $28,000 on a year-over-year basis. The three-month average selling price picked up $6,000 over August numbers to finish the month at $331,822 up from $308,882 in September of last year. The average price per square foot paid for a Saskatoon house also saw a jump of about eight percent on a year-over-year basis, climbing from $246 last year to $266.
Saskatoon condo sales slipped low again for the third consecutive month, sliding from 95 in August to 90 in September. At the same time, condo sales dropped just seven units from the same month last year, a decline of seven percent, roughly half of the drop than we saw in single-family homes. We see a similar shift in the price range of condos that are selling as unit sales below $250,000 drop from 71 in September of last year to 54. Sales of Saskatoon condos from $251,000 and higher experience an increase from 26 units a year ago to 36 units this year.
Condo inventory closed the month of September sharply lower on a month-over-month basis falling a little more than ten percent to 437 units, still a fair bit higher than it was at the close of the same month last year when just 351units showed an active status on the Saskatoon MLS system. Total months of inventory slipped slightly lower over the month to finish just below the five-month mark, up from 3.6 months a year ago.
The average selling price of a Saskatoon condo approached record levels hitting numbers that seem to defy all logic. The average for the month was $250,917, up from $241,440 in August and higher than the $226,271 recorded in September of 2009. The median selling price remained stable when compared to the previous month coming in at $234,000 to record a gain of $17,000 over the same month last year. The three-month average showed a small decline on the month slipping to $243,378 to maintain a gain of roughly $17,700 over the same month in 2009. The average price paid per square foot of Saskatoon condo was up to $251 in September, up from $219 a year ago.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra